SpaceX succeeds in historic rocket launch, landing

Monday night’s mission carried 11 Orbcomm communications satellites into low Earth orbit, with all units successfully deployed within 20 minutes of the rocket’s launch.

It was the company’s first launch since its rocket carrying cargo to the International Space Station exploded June 28.

It was the first time a rocket returned to land vertically at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and a tremendous success for SpaceX.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk noted, however, in the aftermath that the Falcon 9 rocket is more sophisticated and able to travel further into space at greater speeds.

“Welcome back, baby!” Musk wrote in a celebratory Twitter message he posted.

Just two minutes after launch that day, the Falcon 9 disintegrated, destroying food and other supplies greatly needed on board the space station.

He later told journalists “No one has ever brought a booster, an orbital-class booster, back intact”.

For decades, Cape Canaveral served as the iconic launch site for countless missions to space, and now thanks to SpaceX, the legendary facility has also seen a rocket landing shortly after launching a payload into space. The closest it had previously come was in January and April 2015, both attempts to land a 14-storey section of the rocket which ended in explosions when the rocket fell over on landing. But the long-term advantage is even more exciting: A fleet of reusable rocket could be used to land on Mars to then launch astronauts off the Martian surface on their way back to Earth.

Blue Origin, billionaire Jeff Bezos’ rocket company, successfully landed a booster last month in West Texas. SpaceX replaced the struts and launched Monday’s rocket with full confidence that the problem was solved. The Space Shuttle’s solid rocket boosters had to be recovered after violent splashdowns, and they required months of fix to again hurl the crewed vehicle into orbit.

After three failed attempts at a rocket landing, it marks a major victory for SpaceX and CEO Elon Musk. The upper stage continued its ascent to launch its payload.